Bending Academy
by Ocky-chan
Summary: AU. Welcome to Bending Academy, a boarding school on Ember Island for the best benders and non-benders around the world. A girl named Miho from the Fire Nation colonies happens to get a scholarship to the school, but when she arrives there. She faces more challenges than she had expected. Zuko x OC


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters but I do own my character Miho.

**Pointers**: _'italics'_ means that the character is thinking

**Time and Setting: **Its in the Era as it is in the show except there is no war, the monks are still alive, and pretty much everything is at peace. Well, not everything.

**Summary**: AU. Welcome to Bending Academy, a boarding school on Ember Island for the best benders and non-benders around the world. A girl named Miho from the Fire Nation colonies happens to get a scholarship to the school, but when she arrives there. She faces more challenges than she had expected. Zuko x OC

* * *

**Chapter One:  
**

Welcome to the Academy!

* * *

"Miho!" A woman in her early forties came rushing towards the room her daughter was in, her excitement almost matching a teenage girl. Her hair was in a high ponytail and a chestnut brown color as she ran towards her daughter who was sitting at her desk, tapping her finger against the wooden surface as she seemed to be waiting for something. Then she felt her mother's arms wrapped around her, giggles in her ear, and her body slowly being pulled from the chair and off the ground. "You got into the Academy!"

"I did?" The girl said in disbelief as her mother shortly pulled her away and handed Miho the letter as she let her emerald pupils scanned the parchment that certified that she was in the Academy. A Sophmore with a full scholarship, all expenses paid, and even a ride to get there. "This is unbelievable." She placed her hand on her head, still in disbelief as her mother was clapping for joy.

"You are a bright, young girl. Me and your father raised you well, I'm sure he would be so proud to hear that you got in." Her mother said as she wiped a tear from the corner of her amber eyes, showing just how happy she was to know that all the girl's efforts had finally pulled off.

Miho looked at her mother, a small smile on her face. "I'm happy that I can make you guys proud, but I really wish dad was here to hear the news."

"Well, he'll be home soon but you'll be already off to school. When does it say you start?" asked the older woman as Miho then looked back at the paper.

"Next week?" Miho groaned, "I have to start packing now and then I have to tell all my friends that I'll be leaving."

"I'm pretty sure Kuro won't take the news well," Jia told her daughter, seeing the frown that was now forming. "They'll just have to accept it, you worked hard for this and you really want to go to this school. Besides, your a Firebender and its about time that you strengthen your bending and that's the school to do it."

"Yeah," Miho nodded her head, "your right. Its best I tell him first and now," She walked out of the room and went towards the door. "Make sure to feed, Mingli. He gets really hungry at this time and also very, very hyper."

The young firebender was walking down the dirt path, her feet the only sound other than the sigh that escaped her. The sun was about to set and she knew around this time that her best friend would be at the cliff brooding as usual. Her long black hair was pulled into a braid and swung side to side, often hitting her upper thigh as she walked. Her eyes were a bright of blue-green, her skin the color of caramel. She did not look like a Firebender, but she was indeed born with the ability to bend it. Then again, her mother was an Earth citizens and her father from the Fire Nation and so, she was bound to look like one or the other and bend the most stronger trait of bending her family.

Living in Yu Dao, a colony that was fought over years ago by the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, had brought a bunch of interracial couples together like her mother and her father. She never felt like an outcast there like she felt whenever she went to the city like Ba Sing Se, but they never looked her strange until they saw her bend Fire. Most people disapprove of it, but she never cared because she loved who she was and where she was from. It was going to be strange going to the Fire Nation for the second time in her life, her first time going there because she had lived there before.

Her father was a Fire Nation nobleman and her mother the sister of the King of Ba Sing Se, Kuei. How they met? She doesn't really know, but she can tell that they love each other deeply and they loved her just as much. That's all a child really needs to know, right? But the only thing that bothered her about going back to her former home was some of the people she had known. Would she see them again? Would it be a good reunion or something far worse? Seeing _him_ didn't really bring a pleasant feeling either.

When she arrived at the cliff, she saw her best friend. Kuro had long black hair that he usually kept up in a ponytail, the bright yellow eyes, pale skin, and was very tall. Miho was only 5'2'' so everyone was basically tall to her, but he stood about 5'9'' and there was much of a height difference. He had turned and saw her, a look of confusion on his face before he scooted back from the edge and stood up to make his way over to her. When he was in front of her, Miho gave him one of her infamous uneasy smiles and then a look came across his face. He knew she was going to say something that he wouldn't like. "Hey," she started the conversation, feeling nervous.

"What's up?" He asked her, wanting to get straight to the point. His arms them crossed over his chest as his eyes were boring into her which made her feel even more uneasy. Taking a step back, she bit her bottom lip. Oh boy, she was much braver in her head. Usually, Miho tells just about anyone her feelings. An open book would be the way to describe her, but when it came down to Kuro, she just couldn't be so open and harsh.

"I'm leaving next week to Ember Island," Miho then looked away, "I got the scholarship to the Bending Academy."

She hadn't notice, but the boy definitely froze in front of her. "O-Oh, is that so? Well, congrats!" He gave her an overly cheerful and a strong pat to the back which made her stumble a bit, but she caught her footing. Miho looked up at him, knowing that he was clearly hiding his emotions but she wouldn't point it out. This was a sad moment even when they tried to fake that they weren't hurt, that they weren't going to miss each other. "I knew you would make it, your a smart girl unlike the rest of us!"

Miho couldn't help but force herself to smile, "I'm sure you could of gotten the scholarship if you had signed up and taken the exam. Your a more capable bender than I am, besides, your not small in the brain compartment." She gave a playful punch to his shoulder as she then noticed something fall to the ground. Looking around, she was trying to find out what it was and then she spotted another droplet before she noticed they were tears. Looking up at Kuro, she looked to see if it was him but he just gave her a sad look and she could see no tear stains on his face. Placing her hand on her cheek, she felt the went line and then looked away out of embarrassment. "I'm not crying because I'm going to miss you or anything!" She lied as Kuro smiled.

"Who ya foolin'?" He asked as she felt her bottom lip tremble, "Your such a crybaby, Miho."

"I-I am not!" And then that's when she busted out into tears, her eyes pouring with tears and hand over her mouth to try to suppress herself from crying more. The boy sighed before pulling her into a hug, patting her back as he felt his shirt get damp. "I-I'm not crying!"

"Then what are you doing?" His voice was obviously laced with agitation of her ability to not admit whenever she was upset.

"M-My eyes are sweating!" She pulled away from him, trying to act like a tough guy as she then folded her arms and looked away. "You know how they get whenever I feel hot."

Kurou gave her a deadpanned expression, "Its not even hot! Don't you feel that breeze? Besides, it hasn't been hot all week!"

"I sweat easily!" She continued to look away, her cheeks a red color as he gave up.

"I'm gonna miss you." He finally steered the conversation to a different direction which made her look at him, her eyes red from crying so hard all those minutes ago.

Miho smiled, "I'm going to miss you too, Kuro. You're my best friend."

He then put his arm around her, "I know." He then looked down at her because of their height difference, "Let's take you home. You got some things to get to together, right? I wouldn't want you delayin' stuff just so you could tell me this news. You gotta outshine all those snobs that are going to be there! Show 'em the colonies got the toughest of the toughest benders!"

The girl let out a slight laugh as she continued to wipe the corner of her eyes, "I'll be sure to do that."

"Oh and you'll definitely be writing me letters!" Kuro nodded, basically telling her that it was a must. "You have to tell me everything! I want all the details and when I get the money, me and the gang will come visit you, chump." Miho smiled, feeling better than she did earlier. She was going to miss him and all the memories that came with being in Yu Dao. It was almost hard to realize that she wouldn't be seeing this place for a long time.

* * *

It was beginning of the week, a bright an early day and the day that Miho was going to the exit the ship of the five day trip to Ember Island. She had met some people that were going to the Academy along the way was Jet who told the adventures of him and his Freedom Fighters, some of them were going to Academy while the others were too young. An Earth Bender named Haru, and two girls named Jin and Song. They all became fast friends really, spending those past five days hanging around each other and spilling their excitement about the Academy, it would seem that they were all new to the school just like her.

When the ship came to a halt and the bridge towards the boardwalk was down, they had all traveled in a group. "This is really exciting!" Song was the first to strike up a conversation, Miho felt a sense of heaviness due to her nervousness.

"Yeah! And we're surrounded by a beach, talk about nice tans and some relaxation." Jin brought up as Haru noticed the panicking looking on the firebender's face, Jet noticing it too.

"Hey, you okay?" The boy with the stalk of prairie grass in his mouth asked as the girl looked up at him in first shock, then confusion, and then uneasiness again.

"I'm fine, its just... I can't believe we are really here." She let out a long sigh, "First impressions are everything and I always screw up at them."

"You didn't screw up with us." Haru said as he seemed confused as to what she meant.

Miho looked at him, "Uhm, yeah I did. You said hi to me and I glared at you and walked off. Do you think other people can forgive that so easily?"

"... I suppose you have a point." The earthbender laughed as he scratched his cheek nervously.

"And I was meaning to ask, if its a bending Academy, why are non-benders allowed to join?" Miho asked Jet since he, Jin, and Song weren't benders at all.

The Freedom Fighter raised his arms above his head to stretch, "Because they are also really into the arts of weapons. Just because its a bending Academy doesn't mean its solely focused on it, its for academics as well and that's open to everyone. We just can't partake in the bending fighting and certain classes, but we do pretty much the same as you benders do."

"Ohhh," The girl said as she jumped a little to adjust her bag, "This school basically does everything. Well, that's to be expected of the Fire Nation since they are such..."

"Snobs." Jet finished her sentence, "Tell me about it."

"I wasn't going to say that," She arched a brow at him, "They are quite the perfectionists. They like to make everything perfect."

"Because they have the money to do that and like to be better than everyone. The Royal Family are going to be a pain in the a! I'll tell you that." The leader sucked his teeth as Song and Jin turned to look at him, now interested on the subject at hand.

Jin was the first to speak, "Why do you say that? I heard the Prince was really handsome."

"So did I!" Song chimed in, "He's really the catch, but they say he's very serious and short-tempered but every prince has the looks and the flaws."

Miho gave them a curious look, "I met the Prince before and he didn't seem like that to me."

"You did?" Everyone asked simultaneously.

She looked at them all nervously, "Yeah, but we were just kids then and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even remember me."

"How did you meet the Prince?" Jin asked, curious along with everyone else.

"My dad is a Fire Nation nobleman, well, he was before he retired and became an expeditionist. And when he was, we lived there until I was about seven before we moved to Yu Dao." Miho looked up and saw a group of students that were walking onto the large pathway set up to go towards the school before speaking again, "Me and him played a few times as all kids do, the memories are nothing special. But I do admit that he had a nasty temper, but he wasn't so serious."

Song tapped her finger against her cheek, "Well, he has changed since then I suppose."

"Hey! Watch it!" A boy shouted which caught all of their attention as boy who was obviously watertibe. He had his boomerang in the face of another boy to another boy who seemed to be from the watertribe as well, except he had more expensive clothing than the boy who had the ponytail.

"What's going on?" Miho asked as the group shrugged their shoulders. They saw girl with long brown hair that was pulled into a braid and loopies have her face in her palm, shaking her head. She must of knew or was related to the boy with the boomerang because she was obviously embarrassed, especially since everyone stopped and stared. "I'm going to go see if I can handle it."

"What" Jin said out of shock, "But Mih-" The girl was already over there as the boys were giving each other a death glare.

"Hey!" She walked up to them and her presence managed to pull their eyes away from each other and then down at her, "I'm pretty sure that there's no need for fighting right now, right?"

The boy with the bommerang pouted childishly, "He started it!"

"You were gawking at my woman and so I had to make it known that you have to keep your eyes else where." The boy said, obviously reeking of big ego.

Miho grimaced, "He can look wherever and at whomever he wants, you can't tell someone not to look at someone. You should take it as a compliment, besides, its not like he went up to her and tried to flirt with her. He just looked at her, don't get so angry about it."

Bommerang boy gave a triumph humph, a smirk on his face while egobender gave her a look of anger. "I'll have you know that I am Hahn of the Northern Watertribe and that there is Princess Yue, my soon to be wife. I can yell at or hurt any man who dares lay their eyes on her."

The firebender looked over to Yue, who was embarrassed and obviously displeased. "Your making a fool of yourself and of her, can't you tell how uncomfortable she is? By making a seen over a guy looking her, that's going to make her like you less."

"Like I care of the opinions of peasants! Hmph, let's go Yue." He said as he placed his hand on her back, signaling for her to walk faster leaving them and causing the crowd to disperse and everyone to keep moving.

"Thanks, you didn't have to do that." The girl with brown hair she noticed earlier said, "My brother can put on a show sometimes."

The black-haired female had shook her head, "Its not a problem. I just hate guys like that egotistical, buff no brain try to show that their better than everybody when their not. Your brother had every right to defend himself."

"Exactly!" The said as his sister rolled his eyes.

"My name is Katara and this is my brother Sokka, we're from the Southern Water tribe." The girl introduced them, "I'm a waterbender and my brother... Well, he likes his boomerang and thinks bending is magic." Sokka gave his sibling an offended expression.

Miho chuckled, "Nice to meet you guys, I'm Miho from Yu Dao of the Fire Nation colonies. I'm a Firebender."

"Really? You look like an Earth bender." Katara revealed her astonishment/

"That's what everyone says, but that's because my mom is an Earth Kingdom citizen. Interracial marriages are common in the colonies, so you'll be seeing more people mixed like me. Heh, love is love, y'know." She gave them a smile.

"I agree. I think you can find love outside your race and bending!" said the waterbender as she then noticed the group waiting for Miho, "Are they your friends?"

"Oh? Yeah! I met them on the way here, let me introduce you to them." They followed her toward the group and when they were close enough, Song and Jin gave both Sokka and Katara friendly smiles as well as Haru. "This Jet, Haru, Song, and Jin and they are all from the Earth Kingdom!" She pointed at each one when she said their names. "Guys, this is Sokka and Katara from the Southern Watertribe."

"Nice to meet you Sokka and Katara!" Jin waved as Katara gave them a friendly smile as Sokka looked around.

"Do either of you have crazy, overly jealous boyfriends?" He asked them as they looked at each other and shook their heads. "Good, don't need a repeat of earlier."

"Let's all walk together!" Miho suggested as they all turned and walked up the pathway towards the entrance of the large Academy.

* * *

They had reached the auditorium and Miho sat in between Katara and Jet, Sokka sitting next to Katara's left and Haru sitting next to Jet's right while Song and Jin sat behind Miho and Katara. The seats began to fill up fast as they sat in the middle row, Miho having a sense of excitement but nervousness building up as well. She looked at Katara who seemed to be interested at the stage as one spotlight had shone upon it, which made Miho wonder if she should just stay focus on it as well, but Sokka's loud chewing of Fireflakes had broke her concentration and even Katara's.

"Could you not eat like a slob for once?" Katara asked her brother with an irritated expression.

"Hey, that's just how I eat." He shrugged his shoulders as Miho merely giggled at the bickering twins as they fought over the armrest. She looked at Jet who then turned to look at her.

"What?" He asked as she shook her head.

"Its just I feel nervous for some reason and I can't explain it." She let out long sigh, blowing up her cheeks afterwards.

Jet merely smirked, "You got the first day jitters. Don't worry about it."

"You make it sound so easy," She rolled her eyes as she then saw someone take the stage. It was a rather old man with a long white beard and round stomach with a gentle smile on his face. "Who is that?"

"The Fire Lord's older brother, Iroh. He's the Principle." Jin whispered as she leaned forward, Miho nodded her head.

"Good morning, young ones. You are all the new students of Bending Academy, a prestigious school for benders and non-benders. You'll be studying various things such as cultures of the world, history of the world, and so on. But most of all, your bending and your weaponry will be tested during the school's arena battles called "Agni Kai". Now, this is not to to the death like Fire Nation tradition, so please, do not fret." Iroh noticed the relaxed faces of man of the students as he said this, "The winner will be chosen until we deem the fight unfit for continuation or until one of the contestants quits or faints also by time limit. You are assigned rooms, some of you will have a roommate or roommates while others might have a room themselves. I am sure you have gotten your keys in the mail and the room number. Classes will start tomorrow at a quarter after sunrise. You may go to your dorms."

* * *

"Basically, you and I are roommates! This is great!" Katara said with a smile as Miho nodded her head, "And not only that, Song and Jin are across the hall from us! How lucky is that?" The four girls walked down the dormitory.

"And we're three doors down and Haru's our roomie too." Jet said as Sokka nodded his head.

Miho smiled, "Its like we were all meant to be friends!"

"Okay, don't get all sappy with it, Mi." Jet smirked with a stalk of prairie grass in his mouth.

"What?" Miho frowned, "You don't believe in fate?"

"Of course not." Jet answered, "Things happen, they jappen for a reason I believe that. But, fate, it was written in the stars or whatever is a bunch of fairytale nonsense."

"Your so..." The firebender squinted her eyes, "mean."

The Freedom Fighter shook his head, "You can believe in that stuff if you want to. You just set yourself up for disappointment."

"Let's move to a happier subject," Katara tried to change the conversation, "We should go to the beach sometime this week."

"Well, we don't have classes on the weekends." Jin said optimistically, "We should go on a weekend!"

"Sounds good to me!" Song added.

With a nod, Miho gave a thumbs up. "That settles it then! Well, after I unpack, I'm going to the library. So, I'm going to get started." She gave them a quick smile before opening the door with her key and dropping her luggage on her bed seeing that her crates of things were already placed in the room. Katara had walked in and then started to unpack herself.

"So, Miho, what do you think of Jet?" Katara asked as Miho put some of her clothes in the drawer but she froze when the waterbender asked her such a question.  
"I mean, its because you seemed to know him a little more than I do."

The firebender gave the waterbender a sly smirk, "Do you have a crush on him?"

The waterbender jumped a little and spun around quickly, "What? No! Its not like that." Her face was red, nothing could hide the brown haired girls embarrassment at that moment.

"Right..." Miho smiled, "Jet's pretty cool. He's cute too, so I can see why you're asking about him."

"M-Miho!" Katara was growing beyond flustered.

"Sorry, sorry! But yeah, he's cool." She gave Katara a thumbs up for approval, "He's nice, he's smart, and he's got that charm."

Katara sighed, "I shouldn't even be thinking about things like this right now. We have classes tomorrow."

"Yeah, and we can't only expect the hardwork coming from it considering its the Fire Nation. You have to be the best of the best, especially to get into this Academy period." Miho had let out a long sigh, "Well, I'm done. I'll see you later Katara!"

"Bye!"

* * *

Miho wandered the hallways of the school building, looking at the paintings of esteemed people around the world who attended this Academy. Everything about this just reeked rich even though some of the kids she met were more less poor or on the same level of middle class as she was. She couldn't imagine at the one point she would meet the rich kids like that guy earlier who had threatened Sokka over his girlfriend. Princes and Princess mixed with commoners and even peasants? Did they really expect for some people not to be cl assists and start fights? Now it just made her think that the school year might be not as fun as she expected.

She had reached the large, vast library which left her eyes wide and her mouth open. There had to be at least a million books in this place, which made her search for just that one book even harder. Slapping her palm against her forehead, she walked down the aisle and noticed she was the only one here. Of course, who goes to the library of the first day of boarding school? Nerds of course. Even though she just met her new people could count as friends, she was going to spend her first day with a book. How nice. "Just where is that book?" She went the T books and looked across the shelves of the many books that rested on it. "This is going to take forever." When she finally found the book just when she reached for it, someone had grabbed it.

Her eyes went to the person who grabbed the book and her eyes went wide. There was a boy with a scar on his left eye, but that didn't take away from his appearance. She simply stared at his bright amber eyes since he was staring at her, but she stopped when his voice had broken through the silence. "Stop looking at me."

"Huh?" Miho shook her head slightly, going out of the daze.

"I said stop looking at me." He repeated as she then looked offended.

"Well," She placed her hands on her hips, "excuse me! You took the book I wanted."

"This?" He pointed at the book with the title that said 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms', "I wanted this book first and I grabbed it."

"You didn't seem me when I trying to get it?" Miho pointed to the spot where she was in which he looked and then gave her a dull expression.

He then looked at the shelf where the spot where the book use to be was empty, "I was here first and I didn't notice you, but even if I did. I still would of grabbed the book."

"How rude." The girl narrowed her eyes.

The boy merely rolled his eyes, "It was rude of you to stare and to talk to me when you are obviously a commoner in royal presence."

"Royal presence? Don't tell me you-" She was cut off.

"I'm Prince Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation." He informed her, "And this book belongs to someone capable of understand it."

"Wait, are you calling me stupid?" She pointed to herself as she squinted her eyes in anger.

"Precisely." He answered as she bawled up her fist. This was the first time he seen a female display such anger, but usually girls were throwing themselves at him.

Miho clenched her teeth, "I don't care who you are. I may be a lot of things, but I am not stupid. If I was stupid, your dad wouldn't of sent me a scholarship to this school."

"Oh, so your that peasant that he paid for to attend this school." Zuko managed to anger her even more, "I guess your not stupid. You just lack common sense and do not to understand that you do not talk to me in anyway that you want because of your stature."

"You are a insensitive, jerk!" She pointed at him as he started to show some anger as well.

"And your a dirty a peasant, but you don't seem me complaining and shouting it to the world." He fired back which made the female growl. "Now you choose to behave like an animal like most peasants do."

That was it. She couldn't take it anymore, "Listen here, just because you're from the Fire Nation and you happen to be a Prince doesn't make you better than anybody! Your lucky your a Prince because you couldn't survive out there in the real world! You don't have to work hard for what you have, you got everything handed to you, but once someone strips that all away, your nothing but an asshole who can't apply himself to hardwork! Take that book, I don't want it now that your filthy hands have been on it. Good day, _Prince_ Jerkface!" And with that said, she stormed out of the library and not even bothering turning back. Just who did that guy think he was? He acted like he was a God or something, but that's okay. She'll keep knocking him off his high horse until graduation if she has it her way

* * *

**MIHO** (1-美保, 2-美帆): Japanese name meaning "beautiful guarantee" or "beautiful sail."

Short I know, but there's sooo many ideas that I have in mind. Bwahahaha.

R & R!


End file.
